{"id":870375,"date":"2026-10-04T10:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/870375\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:40:17","slug":"warriors-notes-horford-williams-niang-preseason-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/870375\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Notes: Horford, Williams, Niang, Preseason Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

The health issue<\/a> that has Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> sidelined indefinitely helps to explain why the Warriors were so eager to bring back Al Horford<\/a> for his 20th NBA season, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a>. Horford agreed to a new two-year contract<\/a> in June, and although he can\u2019t be counted on for huge minutes at age 40, he\u2019s the only other center on the roster with significant experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to compete, and he wants to be out on the court,\u201d Horford said of Porzi\u0146gis. \u201cIt\u2019s just for him to be patient at this point. He\u2019s usually been able to overcome things, but patience is kind of like the name of the game right now. I don\u2019t know if we saw this coming entirely. So, I just hope that he\u2019s able to recover and be in a good place so he can roll with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poole notes that it\u2019s possible that Horford could be the opening-night starter, just a few months after meeting with his family to decide if he should continue his NBA career. He shot 36.1% from three-point range last season, which makes him a good fit in coach Steve Kerr\u2019s five-out offense where everyone can space the floor. Horford is eager for another season with the Warriors after the last one was disrupted by injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we didn\u2019t really get a chance to show what we could do as a group, as a team, so I\u2019m intrigued by that,\u201d he said. \u201cReturning here and being able to see what we can accomplish \u2013 and, also, just that desire to continue to compete, to just continue to compete and try to compete at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more on the Warriors:<\/p>\n

Former Dallas guard Brandon Williams<\/a> brings an element of speed that the team didn\u2019t have before, notes Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a>. Williams, whose one-year contract is non-guaranteed, been impressive in training camp. \u201cHe\u2019s the fastest guy we\u2019ve ever had here,\u201d Kerr said. \u201c\u2026 Brandon is probably more of a high pick-and-roll speedster, and it changes the calculus. It gives you more options.\u201d
\nGeorges Niang<\/a>, another free agent addition, was used as a small-ball center in Thursday\u2019s scrimmage, which may be his best chance for playing time, Johnson adds. The 33-year-old forward is trying to bounce back after missing all of last season with an injury he suffered in training camp. \u201cI think at this point, if you\u2019re on the court, you better feel comfortable,\u201d Niang said. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing. You want playing time, you figure out where and how to be comfortable, and you find ways to implement things that you can do that can help your team.\u201d\u00a0
\nKerr plans to use Horford, Stephen Curry<\/a> and Draymond Green<\/a> for about 12 to 15 minutes in Sunday\u2019s preseason opener against the Clippers, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic (Twitter link<\/a>). Everyone else will play around 20 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The health issue that has Kristaps Porzingis sidelined indefinitely helps to explain why the Warriors were so eager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2241,339692,13339,13013,6345,355,99,2244],"class_list":["post-870375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-al-horford","tag-brandon-williams-player","tag-draymond-green","tag-georges-niang","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-stephen-curry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}